QBE Insurance North Harbour team named to play Tasman
Trafalgar Park, Nelson, this Saturday – kick off 7.35pm
North Harbour head coach Craig Dowd has targeted the next three games against Tasman (away), Manawatu (home) and Counties-Manukau (away) to get back into winning mode and keep alive the team’s top seven aspirations.
“When we looked at the draw for this season we knew with Auckland, Canterbury, Waikato and Southland the first half of the season was going to be tough, and obviously it has been,” Dowd says.
“But where we sit now, we know we have a good run so if we can get some momentum and confidence in our game plan, there is no doubt we can turn our season around.
“There has been some mental resilience and toughness developed over the tough start to the season. Obviously the loss to Southland last Friday was not nice and no one likes to lose the way we did. The first 30 to 40 minutes we were well in that game and it just got away from us, but in other games, especially the wins over Northland and Otago, we played right to the 80 minutes and did hang in there.
“We still have some key areas we are working on. The error rate is way too high and we have done a hell of a lot of work on our defence, but we are not that far away from getting it right. The players are working very hard to fix things and to put things right, we have pride in the jersey, and we want to enjoy where we finish at the end of the season.”
Injuries have forced Dowd to make changes to his squad for the Tasman game.
Captain Michael Reid is out with a recurrence of a toe injury and has been replaced at loosehead prop by James Afoa, with halfback Chris Smylie taking over the captaincy.
Matt Luamanu switches from blindside flank to No 8 to give Richard Mayhew a chance to get over some niggling injuries, while Ken Pisi’s impressive form for the North Harbour Development XV has been rewarded with a start on the right wing.
All Blacks lock Anthony Boric is welcomed back into the Harbour pack after his impressive final 20 minutes off the bench in last week’s exciting win over the Wallabies, while Blues flanker Tom Chamberlain returns to the starting lineup after recovering from injury.
QBE INSURANCE North Harbour team v Tasman:
1 James Afoa
2 James Parsons
3 Ben Afeaki
4 James King
5 Anthony Boric
6 Tom Chamberlain
7 Malakai Ravulo
8 Mat Luamanu
9 Chris Smylie (capt)
10 Michael Harris
11 Nafi Tuitavake
12 Luke McAlister
13 Jack Tarrant
14 Ken Pisi
15 Jack McPhee
Reserves:
16 Manu Leiataua
17 Taione Vea
18 Filo Paulo
19 Scott Uren
20 Nalu Tuigamala
21 Ben Botica
22 Brendon Watt